In the field of Radio Frequency (RF) remote controllers, it is known for such RF remote controllers to be paired with a plurality of devices to be controlled of the same type. For example, an RF remote controller may be paired with two or more television sets, the television sets being located in different rooms within, say, a residential building. Examples of other devices to which the RF remote controller may additionally/alternatively be paired with include, by way of example, DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) players, lighting systems, air conditioning systems, etc. Such RF remote controllers may be arranged to operate using IEEE 802.15.4 global standard RF protocols (see http://www.ieee802.org/15/) such as the new RF4CE (RF for Consumer Electronics) protocol currently being developed by the RF4CE consortium (www.rf4ce.org), the applicant's SynkroRF™ entertainment control network protocol (www.freescale.com/synkro), etc.
Typically, at any given moment only one device of any given type may be selected and controlled by an input means of a user interface of the RF remote controller, such as appropriate buttons or keys. In order to select a different device of a certain type to that currently selected, a user of the RF remote controller manually selects the device that they wish to control via the user interface.
This need for a user to manually select the required device to be controlled can significantly degrade the user experience. For example, in a case where a user moves from one room to another, it may be necessary for that user to change the selection of multiple types of devices (e.g. DVD player, television set, lighting system, etc.), resulting in a cumbersome experience for the user. The need to manually select the required device to be controlled may be even more detrimental to the user experience when a plurality of devices of the same type are present within close proximity, for example within the same room, and which a user may wish to control substantially concurrently. For example, the RF remote controller device may be paired with, say, two or more lighting systems within a room. In order for the user to configure the overall lighting arrangement within the room, for example to turn two of the lighting systems ‘on’, whilst turning a third lighting system ‘off’, the user is required to manually select each lighting system in turn in order to remotely control them.